Subsidies in agriculture will be granted by contest

The agriculture subsidization fund for the next year will not be decreased, Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Valeriu Cosarciuc said, quoted by Info-Prim Neo. He said the subsidies will be used to achieve three major objectives: obtain high value added agricultural products, develop the animal-breeding sector, and encourage the creation of small and medium-sized processing companies in rural areas. Cosarciuc said the subsidies will be allocated not according to the “first come- first served” principle as the previous years, but by contest. The companies, regardless of their size, will have to present development projects. “By the end of the year, we will mobilize the teams of consultants that work in extension centers and other institutions administered by the Agriculture Ministry. They will organize seminars for producers centering on the major subsidization directions and will present model projects for obtaining government funding,” Cosarciuc said. He also said that the financial resources provided by foreign donors will be also used to develop the agricultural sector. He stressed that 11 irrigation systems will be repaired from the funds allocated by the Millennium Challenge Corporation and that profitable rural businesses will be developed as part of the EU-funded €47 million project that will be launched in 2010. The minister said that 254 million lei of the 2009 agriculture subsidization fund of 313 million lei has been used so far. The other 59 million lei will be allocated by December 31, this year.